Dr. Paul Donohue Good Health

DR. PAUL DONOHUE GOOD HEALTH

January 5, 2005|DR. PAUL DONOHUE GOOD HEALTH

Dear Dr. Donohue: My husband and I have been trying to have a baby for two years. I have just seen a gynecologist who thinks I might have polycystic ovary syndrome. He has me on metformin. It's a diabetes medicine, but I don't have diabetes. Why has he given this to me? -- R.W.

Dear R.W.: The criteria used to define polycystic ovary syndrome -- POS -- are much broader than they were when it was first described in 1935. They include disturbances in ovulation, which are most often seen as scanty or missed menstrual periods; ovaries that contain many cysts; and evidence of too much male hormone. The cystic ovaries are seen on ultrasound pictures. Evidence of male hormone overproduction comes from things like facial or chest hair and acne.

Other signs of POS include obesity and what's known as insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is discovered via an abnormal blood sugar reading -- one that doesn't necessarily place a woman in the diabetes category but is above the normal reading.

You are correct. Metformin is a diabetes medicine. It brings down blood sugar. More astonishingly, for some women with POS it can restore fertility. It slows the production of male hormone in these women, and that can lead to fertilization of an ovum and pregnancy.

I don't want all women with POS believing that metformin is the answer to their problem. It is something reserved for a subset of women with the syndrome. For other women with POS, weight loss, when there's an indication for it, might be the appropriate treatment.

Dear Dr. Donohue: My daughter, who is 7, is allergic to peanuts. Can you tell me if she will ever outgrow this allergy? It is hard for her to cope with it. -- J.S.

Dear J.S.: Since 1980, there has been an increase in the number of children with food allergies. The reason for that isn't evident. But now close to 6 percent of children suffer from food allergies.

Many children allergic to milk and eggs -- two of the most common food allergies -- lose their allergies as they grow older.

That's not the case for children with allergies to peanuts, other nuts or seafood. Only about 20 percent of those children outgrow their allergies.